rikitikitavii

My husband and I were talking about this last night, and it seems that's exactly what's happened.

 

Glad we're booked. May not be booking for October 2019 like we had planned. Currently over 4k pp for a Deluxe. That's pretty steep for a 7-day. It will be interesting to watch the prices.

Make sure you are looking at 7 day, and not 14 day cruises. I see pricing of $2k pp, Oct 5 and Oct 19.

We loved the liquid soap at the sink in the bathroom- we loved everything about our stateroom. We were Fantastica experience. The ship is gorgeous, but the layout is not functional . There is no solarium pool for adults . The jungle pool area reminds me of the Solarium but is crawling with kids.

My best advice is this: only go on the MSC Seaside if you are Yacht Club, or if you get a super good price on a normal room and go with zero expectations.

We are on the August 18 cruise, Bella experience, with upgrade to Fantastica Balcony, just to have the experience of MSC. December of 2019, we have the YC balcony booked, hoping to make it to Ocean Cay. I will set my expectation meter to zero, and adjust accordingly, as long as the bars don't run empty, I should be okay!!

Ocean Cay was also on the itinerary for my January 2018 cruise when I booked it in 2016. Then it was delayed until Oct 2018, then Oct 2019 and now Nov 2019. I don't blame MSC except for being overly optimistic. I am thinking of booking a cruise in December of 2019 but am waiting to get the official word that Ocean Cay is ready for visitors. Bob

I'm already booked for December on Seaside, hoping that Ocean Cay stays on the itinerary.

On the original rendering there was a special area for YC.

From what little I've read, there is a YC dedicated area.

said the guy and left.....

I was thinking the same thing.....

Following, would like to know this as well!

 

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I had booked Seaside for October 2019 and saw it was going to Nassau. Cancelled and rebooked for December 2019, itinerary shows Ocean Cay. Hope it is correct.

Once again, a BIG thank you to all who took the time to answer my questions.

We are so looking forward to this cruise and all your help has been greatly appreciated.

 

 

Cheers

Len

Len, Let us know of your experience after the cruise. Most of all ENJOY!!!

We were just on Sinfonia in June, so I will try to answer from my experience.

 

 

Do most of the crew speak and understand English?

Yes, we had no trouble with speaking English with the crew.

Will most of the passengers speak English?

While it might not have been their first language, many passengers spoke at least some English. I did not have any problems communicating with anyone on board.

Some one told us that we will be paying for water at dinner, is this so?

My understanding is that Americans get free water at dinner. We did.

We are non meat eaters, will this be any sort of problem?

I don't think so.

Is most of the food geared towards Italians or whatever?

I think it was. We had no issues with the food.

Are the shows in English?

Announcements before and after the show tended to be mostly in Italian, and then they would translate the key points into other languages including English. I don't think they translated everything because it seemed like it went on for a long while in Italian, and then we'd get a sentence or 2 in English, so I think we just got the important parts. There was a pre-show warm up act before the main show most nights, and that seemed to be completely in Italian. We didn't understand it at all. The main shows often had songs, most of which were sung in English and some in Italian. But most of the acts were things that didn't require language, such as acrobats or fancy dancing. We enjoyed the shows. You sign up for a show either on the same day or the day before on the ship either through the app or on touch screens on the wall. There were at least 2 and sometimes 3 different times to choose from.

How is the ship, small, large, old refurbished?

I don't have a lot to compare it to. It seemed big to us, but we haven't been on any of the really big ships for comparison.

ADventive,

Thanks for the review, we are on Sinfonia in April, really looking forward to this cruise, which we booked in January 2017. We have been on the Sky several times, and tonnage wise, the Sky is a little larger than the Sinfonia.

You will pay 15% on the day of embarkation. You only avoid the service charge when booked before you cruise and it must be done at least 4 days beforehand.

Bea,

Judging from your past cruise history, you must really like MSC!!. We are doing Seaside (Bella Balcony) in August, Sinfonia Suite in April and Seaside YC in December 2019. We are new to MSC and hope we enjoy as much as we have other cruise lines.

We are booked on the Sinfonia, out of Barcelona Nov 27, 2018. It is our first cruise on MSC. We have an inside cabin and also bought the

 

 

Fantastica Experience as that was what was available.

We are Americans and never cruised another line that did not cater towards Americans, but we wanted a new experience and we are so looking forward to it. We are very experienced cruisers, just not on European cruise lines.

I have heard all sorts of stories and they are probably just that, stories, so I come to the source, what can we expect on this cruise>

Do most of the crew speak and understand English?

Will most of the passengers speak English?

Some one told us that we will be paying for water at dinner, is this so?

We are non meat eaters, will this be any sort of problem?

Is most of the food geared towards Italians or whatever?

Are the shows in English?

How is the ship, small, large, old refurbished?

Sorry if these may seem like silly questions, but we are really in the dark about these things.

 

Now, we rarely drink alcohol, so what does the Fantastica experience get us? And if we did want to drink does that effect it?

Would appreciate any help with these questions?

 

Cheers

Len

Giantfan, we are booked on Sinfonia in April 2019. I am expecting many Europeans on the cruise, but expect to have a fantastic time. Sinfonia was built in 2002, and is about 65,000 tons, so she is a relatively small ship by today's standards.

Look to see if there is a roll call for the date you are sailing. Create one if not. There may be other English speaking guests on board.

Some people go to movies, others like to buy "trinkets". I'm not a "Big spender" when it comes to the a lot of stuff. But, I work my butt off 24/7/365, as a sole proprietor of an HVAC service company. I'm not a high roller, by any means. But, I do like to gamble a little. If you gamble at all, and get ANY casino offers, especially from a cruise line. Check out URComped. They have a great staff, and it's truly amazing what they can do for you. I'm relatively new to cruising, as of not even a year ago. But, this allowed me to try a different line than RCCL, without having to pay for anything, other than a flight.

My friend has done Norwegian also through a similar company,you may want to check and see if you can get on one of their ships in the future.

WOW I had NO idea!!!!! I know it's not on thread but I am genuinely surprised that you get a free cruise if you gambled. I have never heard of this in the UK....or perhaps I've led a very sheltered life:eek:

a friend of mine is a member of a casino club in south Florida that offers cruise deals w/ comps for gamblers, but he has to be verified as high limit gambler.

Booked a Bella guarantee balcony and was assigned a fantastica balcony yesterday!

We booked a Bella GTY also, and they gave us a Fantasica on deck 14.

Or go grab a drink at the bar! ;)

That's worth price of admission right there!!

Except you can go to the rest room while waiting in the luggage claim area. While they are stuck in the immigration line, where they cannot.

 

:D

That is enough to make it worth the price to my wife

Here's a question....Most, (if not all) have those pamphlets or next day schedules they leave in your cabin at night for the following days activities. Does MSC do that also? Can anyone point me in the right direction of a link possible for any that have been uploaded for the SeasSide ( or even others).

 

Thank you in advance

Go to Yahoo images, search "msc seaside daily program", you will have to look for them, but there are a few for Seaside.

We have had GE for several years and often used it when flying through ATL while returning from our Puerto Vallarta winter home. GE does get us through immigration without delay, but then we have to wait and wait and wait for Delta to send-up our luggage. By the time the luggage arrives just about everyone without GE is also waiting right next to us...and they did not pay for GE :(. The biggest problem at ATL happens for those of us who have flight connections. After retrieving luggage one must go through a TSA Security check which does not have any special GE line. The queue can often be horrendous and we have twice missed connections because of being delayed at this TSA Check point (sometimes for nearly an hour). We are aware of at least 2 frequent flyers who have complained to Congress about this TSA problem and there have been some rumors of a new procedure at this bottleneck.. But we will not hold our breath.

 

Hank

Thanks Hank, we will have a connecting flight to WPB, so will make sure we have a decent layover to cover for any long delays getting luggage and TSA.

Thanks so much. We arrived back from Europe at JFK last week and it was hellish. I can’t believe we allow ourselves to be treated this way. I’m getting it no matter if I get reimbursed or not.

We are going on Med Cruise in April, a friend said it is worth it even if used just once. It is some type of perk with Capitalone, although they only reimbursed for the primary cardholder. We fly in and out of ATL, so figure they will be slammed when re-entry to U.S..

Thank you! I have this card. Can you elaborate what the procedure is to get reimbursed? Is there a form from Capital One to download and send in?

It was an automatic credit of $100, (can't find the email from Capitalone) but online statement:

"Global Entry benefit stat ement credit Appears on statement as: Global Entry benefit stat ement credit ement credit"

Hope this helps, or call Capitalone

The chase sapphire reserve credit card pays for your global entry enrollment as a perk.

 

 

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Capital One Venture card reimbursed my charge also.

I booked my cruise with a guarantee balcony 3 days ago and my cruise is in 68 days. Any idea when I will get assigned?

I booked MSC Seaside in late March 2018 for August cruise - Bella Balcony - was assigned a cabin within 3 weeks. Not sure if this is standard practice or just lucky.

I purchased a couple of massages online and then decided on something different, so I canceled for a full refund. I immediately got 2 e-mails, one for each massage stating: "your refund has been successfully processed". Great. In going over my CC details, I noticed that I did receive a refund, but for only ONE massage. Has anyone had this happen where only part of the refund showed up? I'm wondering if I should wait and see if the other one shows up on my statement, or if I need to call right away. I know MSC has been very slow with some cruisers refunds and faster with others, but I haven't seen anything about issuing in increments. Can you tell I really don't want to call them? LOL UGH.

I've been waiting for a $200 check from them for a month now, (cancelled one cruise and booked another). For some season could not process through CC. Last time I called, which was almost two weeks ago, it was being mailed from Ft. Lauderdale office. I would give them a call, if I were you.

How busy was Mr Sanchos?? It seems like a great option.

Mr. Sanchez can get busy, depending on # of ships in port. Make reservations ahead of time at $5 deposit per person.

Nice to hear all the great comments, we are visiting these cities in April for wife's BD, on MSC Sinfonia:

Katakolon

Santorini

Piraeus

Corfu

Key West - You can do the Conch Train for a quick tour and history of KW. You must visit Duval Street, which is rather subdued during the daytime, to see the "famous" bars.

Cuba - There are numerous "taxis" outside the port. Not sure what they cost though.

The cruise line should charge you for a visa, RCCL did when we went to Cuba. There wass a 13% currency exchange and premium for U.S $, when we went in April 2017.